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It's a dog's life at Lebanon Valley College

Several canines are being trained on the Annville campus to play roles as service dogs

By BRAD RHENLebanon Daily News

Updated:
12/07/2012 01:39:41 PM EST

Linus, a shichon, which is a hybrid of a bichon frise and shih tzu, peers at Xyla, a black lab/golden retriever mix, in the Mund College Center at Lebanon Valley College. Deb Bishop, LVC s administrative assistant for student activities and multicultural affairs, and several students are training dogs to become service or therapy animals. (LEBANON DAILY NEWS JEREMY LONG)

ANNVILLE - Lebanon Valley College has gone to the dogs.

Several dogs are becoming familiar, furry faces around campus - from classrooms to dorms to sporting events - as two types of service dogs are being trained on campus.

Deb Bishop, LVC's administrative assistant for student activities and multicultural affairs, is training a seeing-eye dog, while several students are training dogs to be therapy dogs. They have been given nearly free rein by the college to take the dogs anywhere they wish to take them.

"Here on campus, we don't really have any limitations where we can go," said Bishop, who is working with a black Labrador-golden retriever mix named Xyla.

Xyla, a black lab/golden retriever mix, takes up her familiar place at the feet of Deb Bishop in the Mund College Center. Xyla belongs to The Seeing Eye, an organization that trains seeing-eye dogs and places them with people who are visually impaired. (LEBANON DAILY NEWS JEREMY LONG)

Xyla is owned by The Seeing Eye, a New Jersey-based organization that trains seeing-eye dogs and places them with people who are visually impaired. Bishop will raise Xyla until she is about 15 to 18 months old. The dog will then return to The Seeing Eye and receive four to six months of additional training with a professional trainer before being placed.

Xyla can usually be found sitting underneath Bishop's desk in her office in the Mund College Center.

"Bringing her here is a lot of good socialization for her because, as puppy raisers, we teach them basic obedience," Bishop said. "We get them housebroken, teach them to walk on a leash and do a lot of socialization.

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We want to make sure we're introducing them to different flooring, different types of stairs - things that they're going to come in contact with that they're going to have to be comfortable around."

Vehicular traffic on routes 934 and 422 and other things around the Annville campus also help with Xyla's training, Bishop said.

"The squirrels on campus are a real nice thing, too, to help work with distractions," she said. "And there's kids on skateboards, bicycles. It has worked really well for us.

From left, Deb Bishop with Xyla, Allison Korns with Daisy and Nicole Snyder with Linus leave the Mund College Center at Lebanon Valley College. The three are training the dogs for a life of service. (LEBANON DAILY NEWS JEREMY LONG)

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Senior Nicole Snyder and junior Allison Korns, meanwhile, are training dogs to be therapy dogs in conjunction with Keystone Pet Enhanced Therapy Services - or KPETS, an organization that sends dogs to hospitals, nursing homes and schools to work with people who have physical, emotional and mental challenges.

"We own them, but we'll end up taking the dogs into nursing homes, hospitals, juvenile detention facilities, stuff like that," said Snyder, whose dog, Linus, is a shih tzu-bichon frise mix, or shichon. "They are our dogs, but the purpose that we're training them for is to help other people."

Having a dog with her in class is not much of a distraction, Snyder added.

"Linus usually just sleeps through all of my classes, so he hasn't been bad at all," she said.

LVC junior Allison Korns sits with Daisy, a basset hound she is training to become a service dog. (LEBANON DAILY NEWS JEREMY LONG)

"But then you have other kids saying, 'Oh, Linus is here.'"

Korns, who is training a basset hound named Daisy, said professors seem to enjoy the dogs' presence as well.

"I've actually had two of my teachers approach me and say how nice it was to have a dog in the classroom and how the grades have even looked better," she said. "It makes everyone a little calmer."

Snyder and Korns are members of LVC's women's soccer team, and the dogs attend all their practices and games, both home and away.

"At the beginning of practice, they just run around with us during warm-ups, but then we tie them to the bench, and they play with each other pretty much," Snyder said.

Snyder has taken Linus to plays, and Korns took Daisy to see Gov. Tom Corbett when he spoke on campus last week.

In addition to the dogs that are being trained, another LVC student has an actual working dog that accompanies her around campus. The student has epilepsy, and her dog is trained to react to signs of an oncoming seizure associated with her condition.

Like Bishop's dog, this student's dog is a working dog, and petting them is frowned upon. But, Bishop said, that doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

"If I have her out and we're working, then no, they really shouldn't pet her unless they ask me," she said. "But for the most part, when she's in my office, the students come in and pet her. I actually have a lot of students that come in looking for her because they're like, 'I need to de-stress!'

"It's a win-win, the exposure for her here on campus, but I think the students get a lot out of being around all the dogs," she added. "It helps lower their stress levels."

For the therapy dogs, though, petting them and playing with them is the name of the game.